Q1: Why should I join the East Atlanta Security Patrol? The main reason to join is to make the neighborhood safer. Yes, we already pay taxes and expect police protection, but we have experienced large reductions in crime in East Atlanta. In the early days of the EASP, we experienced over 200 burglaries per year. In 2012, that number dropped to 50. While Atlanta has more police officers than a few years ago, we still don't receive a quick response to lower priority crimes occurring in our area, as the East Atlanta beat has only one officer patrolling. Joining the Security Patrol is a way for East Atlanta to have extra officers dedicated to our area who will respond to 911 calls in less than five minutes, and who provide a more visible police presence in the community.

Q2: Who is eligible to join the East Atlanta Security Patrol?Currently, the East Atlanta Security Patrol only serves households and businesses within the East Atlanta Community Association boundaries. And within those boundaries, we only serve those located within the Atlanta city limits. The geographic membership area of EACA shall have a west border of Moreland Avenue, north to I-20. The northern border shall be I-20 to Flat Shoals Road, where the border will go east of I-20 to include that portion of the City of Atlanta east of I-20. From there, the eastern border will be Fayetteville Road to Eastland Road and its intersection with Moreland Avenue.

Q3: How do I become a member of the East Atlanta Security Patrol?

The patrol accepts new members four times per year, on January 1st, April 1st, July 1st and October 1st. You may join on our website using the Membership menu option, or on the Membership tab on our Facebook page. For new members, yard signs are delivered prior to the start of each entry date. If you sign up on December 10th, you will have your sign prior to beginning membership on January 1st.Q4: What hours does the Security Patrol operate? We don't publicize the exact hours officers are on duty, but patrols of residential areas are based on both historical crime trends as well as recent crime patterns. We also meet with the Atlanta Police Department frequently to assess any changes that need to be made to our hours or methods of patrol. We continue to add more patrol hours as we sign up more residential members.

Hours for our East Atlanta Village patrols are based on maximizing the safety of patrons and employees of the business district.Q5: How can I recognize a Security Patrol officer? Patrols are staffed by off-duty Atlanta Police Department officer in uniform. Security Patrol vehicles can be identified by the magnetic East Atlanta Security Patrol emblem on each side of the officer's personal vehicle. Some officers drive marked APD police vehicles, in which case they do not have the EASP emblem on the sides of their cars. Only officers who work for units on call like SWAT and Canine are authorized to use a marked patrol car for off-duty jobs. All officers working for the Security Patrol are familiar with the neighborhood, as we assign the highest priority to employing experienced officers who have worked or currently work in East Atlanta.

Q6: How does the East Atlanta Security Patrol work? During each shift, the EASP officer will drive by the house of each member at least once, usually two or more times. The other thing that increases the frequency of the officer driving past your house is the quantity of neighbors that sign up in a given area or street. Several streets have aggressively signed up members, and residents of those areas receive more frequent patrols. If crime increases in a given area of East Atlanta, we will shift more patrol attention to that area in an effort to reduce or eliminate the problem, but still take into account the patrol commitment to paying members. If a call is dispatched by 911 or as a result of a call to the EASP, the patrol officer will respond regardless of whether you are a member or not. The major difference between a member and a non-member is that the Patrol helps deter crime in areas with large concentrations of members, focusing on their homes during times when they aren't responding to 911 calls. And if a member is out of town, the Security Patrol officer will have that information and pay extra attention to their residence.

Q7: How quickly will an East Atlanta Security Patrol officer respond to my call?If a Security Patrol officer is on duty when a 911 call is dispatched, the officer will proceed immediately to your house or place of business. This is likely to take no more than 5 minutes. For residential burglaries, an on-duty APD officer may not arrive at your home for 30 minutes or longer. Security Patrol officers are dedicated only to East Atlanta; they don't have to respond to calls in other parts of Zone 6. Keep in mind that it’s critical to call the EASP after calling 911. In the event that no on-duty officer is available to respond to a 911 call, the dispatcher may hold the call until someone becomes available. The EASP officer could be on your street and not know that you require police assistance. Unfortunately off-duty officers aren’t considered to be available to take 911 calls even if all other officers are busy handling other emergency calls.

Q8: How do I contact the East Atlanta Security Patrol?The East Atlanta Security Patrol can be reached several ways. You may call or text us at 404-954-1568. You may send an e-mail to easp610@gmail.com. You can post or send us a message on the East Atlanta Security Patrol Facebook page. You may also submit comments or questions via the Contact menu option on our website. If you see anything that requires an immediate police response, such as a crime in progress, a suspicious person or suspicious vehicle, we do request that you call 911 before calling the EASP. We are staffed by volunteers, so we can’t promise that we answer all calls, especially in the middle of the night. We do make every attempt to answer all calls while an officer is on duty. We have about a 94% record of answering calls before you are sent to voicemail, and even voicemails are normally reviewed within a couple of minutes.Q9: What should I do If I’m going out of town?Please click on the Out of Town menu option to learn more.

Q10: How do I renew my membership?

Renewal notices are sent by e-mail approximately one month prior to the expiration of your membership. We send two more e-mail notices if necessary prior to your membership running out. Just before your membership expires, we will make one final attempt to reach you by mail or by phone. Failure to pay by the renewal date will result in an immediate loss of membership and the reclaiming of your yard sign. If you absolutely can't pay on time but wish to renew your membership, let us know before your membership expires and we'll be happy to work with you.

Q11: Can I pay using my online bill pay service?

Absolutely! In fact, we encourage you to do so since it costs us nothing while PayPal fees take away money that can be used for more patrol hours. It's also easier for us to administer since most payments are sent to us electronically. If you bank with Bank of America, SunTrust, USAA or many other financial institutions, we will receive your payment the next business day. If your payment can’t be scheduled to arrive the next day business day, your financial institution will send us a paper check.

Q12: How do you communicate with members?

In addition to Facebook, Twitter and our website, we send periodic email newsletters to our members. All newsletters contain the renewal date of each address for which you are paying the membership. We have a number of people who pay on behalf of elderly neighbors or who have additional memberships for rental properties.Q13: May I add more addresses to your e-mail list?

Of course! However, we do ask that you limit the addresses to those specifically linked to residents of properties for which you are paying the membership fees. For businesses, you can include owners or managers of your business. Just contact us and we'll be happy to add an address to our list. Also, please be aware that the underlying database being used to maintain the e-mail list is shared with EACA. Some members have one e-mail address for the Security Patrol and another for the EACA newsletter. If that is the case, just let us know and we can consolidate both at one address. Or if you are a member of the Security Patrol and are not receiving the EACA newsletter, please let us know and we can add you to the EACA newsletter list. EACA runs updates from the EASP every Monday in their newsletter.Q14: Why can't I update my personal information online?

To simplify things and eliminate the need to rely on volunteer programming staff or worry about the security of your personal information, we have set up an offline database to track member information and payments. This database also facilitates the creation of reports required to operate the patrol. If you need to update your email address or phone number, add or remove people from email list or anything similar, send us an email at easp610@gmail.com or use the contact form on our website.